The further to the left or the right you move, the more your lens on life distorts.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Fantasy

As the mainstream media continues its week-long obsession with Bain Capital, they continue to do the bidding of their kindred spirits in the Obama campaign—that is, keep the focus away from the economy, from crushing national debt, and from the President's own failed policies to address these issues.

Case in point: One of the week's most under-reported stories was the President's poor showing the West Virginia's Democratic primary.* Almost 40 percent of the voters in the primary voted for someone else (a convicted felon, actually). But why? It would seem that the media would be curious. Instead we get crickets or weak excuses (e.g., the voters weren't paying attention or the evil GOP crossed over and voted against the President).

In fact, it's necessary to go back to 2008 and a meeting with newspaper editors. During the meeting with reporters, candidate Obama defended his Cap and Trade proposal (thinking back, that's the one that even Democrats in Congress rejected out of hand). During the meeting, Obama said:

You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.

They — you — you can already see what the arguments will be during the general election. People will say, “Ah, Obama and Al Gore, these folks, they’re going to destroy the economy, this is going to cost us eight trillion dollars,” or whatever their number is. Um, if you can’t persuade the American people that yes, there is going to be some increase in electricity rates on the front end, but that over the long term, because of combinations of more efficient energy usage, changing lightbulbs and more efficient appliance, but also technology improving how we can produce clean energy, the economy would benefit.

Although President Obama failed to get the legislation enacted (thankfully), he implemented portions of it via executive fiat through the EPA. As a consequence, the coal industry (and West Virginia) took an enormous hit. Barack Obama is not popular in West Virginia, even among Democrats.

There are, of course, legitimate national security reasons for wanting to wean us from foreign oil, but an aversion to domestic fossil fuel sources is simply ridiculous in our current economic situation. Not only do the President's policies on domestic oil drilling, pipelines, natural gas exploration, and coal result in a loss of jobs, it also increases the cost of energy (and electricity, in the case of coal and gas). As energy prices rise, employers have to cut back and reduce new hires. But why worry, unemployment is low, right? The President "has created" 4 million new jobs, according to a campaign add running this week. Problem is, unemployment is high and has been above 8 percent for almost 30 months, and we've lost 7 million jobs while Barack Obama has been in office. The President's people may be mathematically challenged, so let me help: +4Mil - 7mil = -3mil, a net loss of 3 million jobs.

Finally, energy production and consumption is a major source of tax revenue, but President Obama seems to think that taxing "millionaires and billionaires" will somehow cover the difference. But that's a lot like the math on jobs. It just doesn't hold up to scrutiny -- or reality. Then again, the Obama presidency from the very beginning has been all about fantasy, so why worry?

It was a tough day in Kentucky for President Obama, as “Uncommitted” on the Democratic primary ballot registered 42 percent of the vote. While Obama won the primary with nearly 58 percent of the vote, the seemingly close race is another PR hurdle for his team to overcome as nearly 87,000 Kentucky voters appeared to voice their frustration with the incumbent.

About Me

Over the years, I’ve been an engineer, a manager, a professor, a consultant, an author and an entrapreneur. Today, I work with my sons at Evannex, an automotive aftermarket products manufacturer and e-commece company that specializes in electric vehicles. I've written a number of best-selling college textbooks and have tried the occasional novel.
I’ve lived long enough to see the irrationality in extreme positions taken by both ends of the political spectrum and worry that decisions driven by these positions may get us all into very real trouble. I harbor no illusions about influencing decision-making, only making a comment or two that might provoke you to think beyond the prevailing narrative.
On a personal level, I’ve been married for 48 years (to the same person!) and have two terrific sons who live and work in South Florida and are partners in a business we've created.
I'm originally from Connecticut, but have lived in SoFla for almost 20 years.